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Wednesday, Aug 08, 2007
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Manmohan has kept all promises on India-U.S. deal: Dasmunsi

Neena Vyas

“Government ready for any debate that the Opposition may want”

Meeting of party whips on August 9
It is for the presiding officers to decide on BJP’s demand

NEW DELHI: “The Government is ready to respond to any question and any debate that the Opposition and other parties may want, whether it is the India-United States civil nuclear cooperation agreement or any other issue,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Dasmunsi said here on Tuesday.

He said he had called a meeting of party whips on August 9. Ahead of the monsoon session, the Speaker would also be meeting party leaders to ask them what issues they would like to take up.

It was only after this exercise would it become clear what form any discussion on the Indo-United States civil nuclear cooperation deal would take.

When his attention was drawn to the fact that the Bharatiya Janata Party would like the deal to be discussed under Rule 184 where a vote is mandatory, Mr. Dasmunsi said it was for the presiding officers to decide whether notices for such discussions were within parliamentary procedure rules. If the presiding officers found any notice or motion in order, the Government would have no difficulty accepting it, he added.

He recalled that during the earlier debate on the issue the Prime Minister had given certain assurances and had added that if there was any departure from those, he would get back to Parliament. “But all promises and assurances given have been met.”

Asked whether there would be a suo motu statement by him, he said the Prime Minister could always do that but so far nothing had been conveyed to him. “As of now, I cannot say whether there will be a statement from the Prime M inister on this subject,” Mr. Dasmunsi said.

It seems that the Minister for External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee will be out of the country from August 15 to 17. Given this, any discussion on the nuclear deal would have to take place on August 13 and 14 or after August 20 since August 18 and 19 fall during a weekend.

Some legislation relating to demands for grants, two bills to replace ordinances and as many as 25 bills for consideration and passing have been listed by the Government for the short session starting August 10 that will have only 2 sittings although the session itself is spread over 36 days. With voting for the Vice-Presidential election scheduled to take place on August 10, not much else will be done except paying tributes to the former Prime Minister, Chandra Shekhar, who passed away recently.

Among the important bills that could be taken up are Unorganised Workers Social Security Bill, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (Amendment) Bill, The Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill and the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority Bill.

There are indications from various parties that they may try to raise the issue of non-implementation of the Srikrishna Commission recommendations on the 1993 Mumbai riots and the devastating flood situation in the country among other things. Terrorist activities and the general security scenario could also be discussed against the backdrop of violent incidents in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir.

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